Today mum and I were going to go for a short ride before it got too late (we had to make it back for a dinner with the family on my Grandma's last night with us). We had to drive to town first to pick up some stuff from my dads, but I didn't think it would take long and we would still have time to ride. As it turns out, mum bumped into her boyfriend and had been planning to break up with him the next day. Deciding it was an opportune moment, she did it right there and then. This took all of twenty-or-so minutes. There goes our little ride.


When we got to the paddock, mum said we would just give them a quick groom and a feed and then head home. I was pretty disappointed because I had been looking forward to riding. Thinking I would take it into my own hands, I hopped on my mums young horse bareback. Now, my balance is pretty shocking when my two feet are on the ground, so when they are dangling either side of a relatively narrow horse... Well, things go a little awry.


So I got on her, looping her lead rope around her neck and tying it to the halter so as create reins, and then trotted around the barn (doing as best a sit trot as I could with her bouncy gait) and she was really good (I might take this opportunity to mention that I was pretty stupid and not wearing a helmet, even though I was actually expecting to fall off at least once). Mum asked if I wanted to just give her (the horse) a little ride around just so she had at least done something before we fed them. I nodded eagerly and steered the spirited mare away from where her dinner was being prepared to try and canter her up a hill in the paddock. She wasn't having it, and refused to even walk in a straight line up the hill, ears keenly pricked toward her dinner. Thinking it was probably a silly idea anyway, I decided I would turn her round and go to a flatter area at the back of the paddock and canter her back.


This idea seemed pretty good in my head, until we headed back down the hill I'd tried to get her up and she started trotting. Bounce + lack of balance + downhill + general retardation = .. well, I think you already know. Yep, down I came, landing on the up-hill side of her and so rolling slightly beneath her and managing to get my leg caught under one of her huge, dinner-plate feet (she's a clydie X). It didn't really hurt that bad, just a sort of dull ache, so I hopped back up to ensure that that wasn't the note we would end on. She's pretty funny to fall off actually, this being my second time. She keeps going a couple of meters, realizes you are no longer on her back, and then turns around and looks at you as if to say "What the hell are you doing down there??"


Aborting my plan, I just rode her over to mum and stood her there a moment before mum asked if I wanted to throw the stock saddle on her and do it again, just to smooth over that little bump. Thinking it was a pretty good idea, I dismounted and found the pain in my leg was a little worse, making me limp. I decided it was nothing serious (which it isn't, by the way) and hopped back on, this time finding comfort in the stirrups and leg bars, though I usually don't like riding in stock saddles. Taking on my old plan, I directed her toward the back of the paddock (now we all know that horses generally play up in their own paddocks), and then started to canter her in the turn where she threw in a couple of bucks/pigroots. Taking one rein and pulling her head around, I ended the pigroots and cantered her off back to mum. Finding the little ordeal rather exhilarating, I turned her round and did it again. This time, as I steered her around at the back of the paddock, the rein I had tied to her halter freed up and suddenly we were cantering toward the dam with only one attached rein. With a quick change of plan, I pulled her right instead of left, tightly enough that she slowed, and then we tore off (at a speed I hadn't quite anticipated) back toward dinner. Fortunately the path was pretty clear so there wasn't a whole lot of steering required, though I did have to neck-rein her away from a ditch at one point :S


So now you all know what an amazingly intelligent rider I am.

But yeah... The moral of the story is ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET! And try to land on the downhill side of the horse xD
My leg is killin me D: